Actor David Warner is to guest star in an upcoming episode of Doctor Who.

The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine reports that the veteran actor will take a role in a story penned by Who stalwart, Mark Gatiss, which is part of the recording block currently being completed in Cardiff.

Warner has had a long and illustrious acting career appearing in films such as The Omen, Time Bandits, Tron, The Lost World, Titanic and Planet of the Apes. He has appeared in the Star Trek films The Final Frontier and The Undiscovered Country as well as playing Gul Madred in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Although Warner has not appeared on television in Doctor Who before, he has lent his vocal talents to the series when he provided the voice of Lord Azlok in the animated adventure Dreamland, first shown in 2009. He has also appeared in many audio plays for Big Finish Productions, where he has played an alternative version of The Doctor.

The story, due for transmission in early 2013, will be the fifth script for the series by Mark Gatiss, whose last script, Night Terrors, was shown last year. Gatiss told Doctor Who Magazine he was thrilled to be writing for the Eleventh Doctor once more, this time alongside his new companion played by Jenna Louise Coleman. It will be directed by Douglas MacKinnon who directed The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky in 2008.

The story will also star Irish actor Liam Cunningham, who has appeared in a number of film and television productions including A Little Princess, First Knight, Jude, Dog Soldiers, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Clash of the Titans, The Guard and the BBC One science-fiction drama series Outcasts, and more recently has become known to international audiences as Ser Davos Seaworth on HBO's Game of Thrones.

Two guest stars have also been confirmed for the previous episode recorded, the first to be filmed with Jenna-Louise Coleman. Written by Luther creator Neil Cross and directed by Jamie Payne, both of whom are making their début on Doctor Who, the episode will star Dougray Scott and Jessica Raine.

Scott is a Scottish actor who has appeared in films such as Enigma, Desperate Housewives and, recently, in My Week With Marilyn , while Raine is best known for playing the lead role of nurse Jenny Lee in the BBC1 drama series Call The Midwife.

An updated cast list for each story can be found in the Doctor Who Guide.

The British Film Institute is to premiere the first episode of the 2012 series of Doctor Who, Asylum of the Daleks, on Tuesday 14th August 2012 at 6:00pm.

The episode, which has been described as including "every Dalek ever", was named in the Institute's advance programme. The screening will include a Q&A session with writer and show runner Steven Moffat plus other members of the cast and crew yet to be confirmed.

Tickets go on sale to the public from 10th July (BFI members from 3rd).

As previously reported, the episode will also be shown at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, which runs from 23rd to 25th August.

The television premiere of the episode has yet to be announced; however, last year's Let's Kill Hitler received both a BFI and MGEITF premiere in August prior to its broadcast on the Bank Holiday weekend, which for this year would be Saturday 25th August.

Speaking on the BBC's Doctor Who website, executive producer Caroline Skinner said:

The actress Caroline John - who played companion Liz Shaw - has died aged 71, it was announced today. The news came via a tweet from the BBC on the Doctor Who Twitter feed.

She passed away on 5th June but the news was not made public by her family until after the funeral, which took place yesterday in south-west London. The cause of death is unknown as yet.

Born in York in September 1940, John trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama then worked in theatre, touring with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre.

In 1969, she won the part of scientist and companion Dr Elizabeth Shaw opposite Jon Pertwee as the Doctor when the show was revamped for its seventh season, seeing the title character exiled to Earth. Liz Shaw appeared as a regular character for one season in 1970, with John playing two roles in the final story of that year, Inferno, the other character being Shaw's parallel-universe counterpart, Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw.

After leaving the series she had many theatre and television roles, including, in 1982, appearing in the BBC TV adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles, which starred Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes. John returned to Doctor Who in 1983 for the 20th-anniversary special The Five Doctors, in which she played a fake Shaw. She reprised the role of Shaw for the 1993 BBC Children In Need special Dimensions In Time.

Married to Geoffrey Beevers, John appeared as Madame Salvadori with him in the Big Finish audio drama Dust Breeding, which was released in 2001. She also portrayed Liz Shaw for Big Finish for four stories in the Companion Chronicles range, starting with The Blue Tooth in 2007 and most recently in Binary, which was released just three months ago in March. In addition, she appeared as Shaw in the straight-to-video P.R.O.B.E. stories of the 1990s, which were written by Mark Gatiss and co-starred Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy.

Paying tribute, Companion Chronicles producer David Richardson said: Colin Baker tweeted: while Mark Gatiss also paid tribute via Twitter: and on the official site Steven Moffat wrote: Big Finish executive producer Nicholas Briggs said: John and Beevers also starred together in the Agatha Christie's Poirot episode Problem At Sea on ITV in 1989. In addition, the couple had roles in the Channel 4 adaptation of the political thriller A Very British Coup in 1988. They had three children: a daughter, Daisy, and sons Ben and Tom.

Her most recent screen appearances included the 2003 rom-com film Love Actually (written and directed by Richard Curtis and featuring Bill Nighy as well as Steven Moffat's Curse of Fatal Death Doctors Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Grant) and the ITV drama series Vital Signs (with Gugu Mbatha-Raw) in 2006 and the BBC daytime drama Doctors (with Malcolm Tierney and Matthew Chambers) in 2008.

She also narrated the audiobook of Elisabeth Sladen's autobiography, which was released last November, and narrated the audiobooks of Doctor Who And The Auton Invasion (2008) and Doctor Who And The Cave Monsters (2007), which were adaptations of her first and second Doctor Who stories respectively.

UPDATE (22nd June): A spokeswoman at Caroline John's agency, Shepherd Management Ltd, confirmed to Doctor Who News that John had died of cancer.

Planet of Giants:

The British Board of Film Classification has passed the special features for the forthcoming DVD release of the final complete William Hartnell story to be released, Planet of Giants:

00:28:01:16 DOCTOR WHO - CRISIS
00:24:31:18 DOCTOR WHO - THE URGE TO LIVE
00:08:27:11 REDISCOVERING THE URGE TO LIVE
00:15:17:10 SUDDENLY SUSAN
00:13:58:23 THE LAMBERT TAPES - THE DOCTOR
00:03:20:22 PLANET OF GIANTS - PHOTO GALLERY

As previously reported, the release will feature a recreation of the original four-part story based on the original scripts and featuring newly recorded dialogue and animation. The commentary by Clive Doig, Brian Hodgson, Sonia Markham and David Tilley was also passed on 6th June.

A clean version of the cover art by Lee Binding for the DVD has been published via the Tea-Lady Design Facebook page.

Future Release Updates:

Lee Binding has reported that an announcement about The Ambassadors Of Death will be made in the next week or so. The graphic designer recently completed the DVD cover, saying: "Ambassadors sleeve submitted to @classicdw. No Liz Shaw on the front, sadly. No decent pics. Rest: kinda classy, which is nice. « I'm sure the usual #doctorwho ming-mongs will complain anyway. 'It's not GREEN. Ambassadors is a GREEN story!' *rolls eyes* «" Meanwhile, an image of the colourisation process for the story undertaken by Richard Russell was shared on Twitter by Stuart Humphryes (aka @Babelcolour), who himself is working on episode one of The Mind of Evil.

Brian Hodgson recently mentioned that he had recorded a commentary for the incomplete Patrick Troughton adventure The Moonbase. It is currently unknown if this is for a Revisitations makeover of the 2004 Lost In Time collection of existing, isolated episodes, or if it will form part of a special release of the story with an animated reconstruction of the missing episodes one and three. The Special Sound Designer also mentioned a commentary for Fury From The Deep, though this seems more likely to be for The Underwater Menace, of which episode two was recovered last year - again, the context of such a release is currently unknown.

Behind The Scenes:

Producer Chris Chapman tantalised the Twitter community this week with updates on extras being made for the series: "Heading back to London after a day of exciting Doctor Who stuff - storyboard complete! « About to start the edit proper on Secret Project 5 (our 31st Who doco) - this one's a bit mad, a bit Louis Theroux and a bit golf-y.. « SP5 is presented by Toby Hadoke and is intended for the same DVD release as SP6 (which hits the edit next week)! «"

Finally, a small event in the history of the range was marked on 29th May, reported by the BBC's Classic Series Twitter feed: "Many thanks to Ed Stradling for all his hard work, as he delivers his final documentary. Hope to persuade him back for the odd special!"

The BBC have released the last in their series of three publicity photos of Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman:



The shots featured the pair on location at Margam Country Park at the end of May during the first block of filming with the new co-star. The episode itself will be broadcast in 2013.

The BBC have released the second of their series of three publicity photos of Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman together on location, here at Margam Country Park where filming took place at the end of May.



The next photo is due via the BBC's Doctor Who site on Wednesday.

AudioGO has launched their second ever Doctor Who at the BBC Appeal and are keen to hear from anyone who has off-air recordings of Doctor Who-related items from BBC Television and radio programmes, particularly those recorded in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. These could include interviews with the cast and crew of Doctor Who, features on the making of the series, discussions about Doctor Who, or even comedy sketches.

Any useable contributions will be gathered together in a new volume of Doctor Who at the BBC to be published as a CD or download in 2013. The original appeal in 2005 led to several rare finds, some of which appeared on Doctor Who at the BBC Volume 2.

Commissioning Editor Michael Stevens said, If you have something which you think might be of interest, please drop an email to info@audiogo.co.uk, with the subject header 'Doctor Who at the BBC Appeal'. All you would have to do is send AudioGO either a copy or your original on loan.

Filming Update:

As reported last week, Jenna-Louise Coleman has now joined the Doctor Who "family"; speaking on the Richard Bacon Show, BAFTA winner Steven Moffat commented on the impact her arrival has had on the series:
The complete interview on Doctor Who, Sherlock, and the Kennedy assassination is available to listen to worldwide from the BBC iPlayer until next Monday afternoon.

The episode currently being filmed is not Jenna's first episode - that will be this year's Christmas Special (which Moffat reports is still being written and well overdue!) - but will be one of the 2013 episodes; it has been written by Neil Cross (Spooks/Luther), and is being directed by Jamie Payne (Ashes to Ashes, Primeval and the recent Call the Midwife). Locations filmed thus far have included the Manor House at Plas Llanmihangel, Margam Country Park and Gethin Woodland Park - the latter eliciting a comment from alternative rock group Let It Fall, who tweeted: "Soooo.. We was going to write some music in the woods, but we bumped into the Dr. Who film crew, cool ay?". Other unconfirmed reports indicated another trip 'across the bridge' to England late last week, possibly to Bristol's historic harbourside.

Writers:

During a school talk, writer Steve Thompson mentioned that he would be writing an episode for the forthcoming series, and commented that he needed to read the scripts of the first five episodes. With the Christmas Special known to be the sixth episode, this would place his story firmly within the second half of the series.

Mark Gatiss confirmed that he was writing a story for 2013 to Digital Spy at BAFTA, saying that "it's for the new companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman, that's all I can tell you or I will actually be shot!"

As well as Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss and Neil Cross, other writers believed to be contributing towards the eight episodes featuring new co-star Jenna-Louise Coleman are John Fay and Tom MacRae.

Cast:

Some of the recent names to be confirmed in the next series include: for episode two, Riann Steele (Death in Paradise) as Queen Nefertiti; for episode four, Mark Williams continues his role as Rory's father Brian, Steven Berkoff (The Borgias) as Mr Shanks, Stephen Blything as Henry, Ruthie Henshall (The Case), Jemma Redgrave (Cold Blood, Bramwell) as Kate Stewart; and for episode five, Rob David (Rome) as Sam Garner and Michael McShane (Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Clerks, Spawn) - the latter said on Twitter: "Getting ready to leave for Cardiff to be a villain in Dr.Who!! YEEESSSS!!!«. In my episode the Doctor finds he's got a;:/;;zapppppp GACK. sizzle,hissssss......« Most fantastic time doing Doctor Who; best cast and crew I've been with in a while! Long live Gallifrey...« Can't say what I did In Doctor Who, or Steven Moffat will ride in on a horse and crush my head with a mace, like Mel in "Braveheart"..sorry.«"

Caitlin Blackwood, aka the young Amelia Pond, was a guest at last weekend's Timegate convention, and when asked about possibly appearing in the next series she avoided the answer, instead miming having her lips zipped shut and saying "spoilers"...

On the other hand, John Simm commented: "in reply to many, regardless of what it says on imdb, No i'm not returning to Dr Who. Got absolutely no plans to do so.«"

Scheduling:

Addressing recent concerns over scheduling and a potentially shorter series in the future, Moffat assured listeners on the Richard Bacon show:

Roath Lock Studios:

The BBC have released a video to introduce the new Roath Lock Studios at Cardiff Bay, presented by the 'current' cast of Arthur Darvill, Karen Gillan and Matt Smith; the video (originally shown to visitors at the studio's opening tour) includes facts and figures and a look behind the scenes within the new studios.

Jenna-Louise Coleman began her tenure as the new co-star of Doctor Who this week, with the actress spotted yesterday at the end of filming her first scenes on location at Plas Llanmihangel Manor House, South Glamorgan.

The read-through for her first episode to be recorded took place on Monday, with the BBC's official Doctor Who Twitter feed stating: "History has been made! A new era begins! Jenna-Louise Coleman has just completed her first Doctor Who read-through. One word. Brilliant!"

Details of her character are being kept under wraps, at least for present. Speaking to Digital Spy, Steven Moffat said when we could expect to learn more:


Moffat also explained the later launch of the new series this year:

The Ambassadors of Death:

The British Board of Film Classification have passed the special features for the forthcoming DVD release of the Jon Pertwee adventure The Ambassadors of Death:.

00:01:27:01 (DOCTOR WHO - THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH) (TRAILER)
00:13:05:07 TOMORROW'S TIMES - THE THIRD DOCTOR
00:04:24:15 THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH - PHOTO GALLERY
00:25:49:16 MARS PROBE 7: MAKING THE AMBASSADORS OF DEATH

The DVD has yet to be formally scheduled, though it is believed to be due in Autumn this year.

Special Editions:

The BBFC have also passed features due to appear on September's special edition of Vengeance on Varos (tape 1 and 2):

00:01:07:01 (NEWS) (TELEVISION NEWS CLIP)
00:15:07:11 (SATURDAY SUPERSTORE) (TELEVISION CLIP)
00:05:41:15 BBC BREAKFAST TIME (TELEVISION CLIP)
00:01:37:07 (ACID BATH SCENE) (ALTERNATE MUSIC TRACK)
00:29:37:17 NICE OR NASTY? - THE MAKING OF VENGEANCE ON VAROS
00:07:29:11 THE IDIOT'S LANTERN (FEATURETTE)
00:12:54:03 TOMORROW'S TIMES - THE SIXTH DOCTOR (FEATURETTE)
00:07:31:05 (FRENCH AND SAUNDERS) (TELEVISION CLIP)
00:17:42:04 (EXTENDED & DELETED SCENES)
00:06:38:08 VENGEANCE ON VAROS - PHOTO GALLERY

Speaking at the Utopia convention, Steve Roberts confirmed that another story to get the special edition treatment will be Jon Pertwee's adventure Inferno; the episodes are to be 're-coloured' using the black and white film prints and the NTSC reverse standard conversions recordings to create a better quality image to the original 2006 release. The project will also include a 'secret project' alongside the range's commentary moderator and presenter Toby Hadoke. The DVD is expected to be released in 2013.

Actor John Levene also reported that he had recently recorded a documentary which, though unconfirmed, could feature on this DVD.